A huge rush of news about StarCraft 2 has hit the gaming blogs this week. We break down the news reports and bring you the surprises, the oddities, and the pleasant surprises. The takeaway? The game looks great.

As rhythm games continue their march to worldwide dominance, we take a step back and look at what separates the Michael Jacksons of the genre from the Milli Vanillis. Ars presents the Five Commandments of Rhythm Gaming.

How should parents handle their kids' video gaming? We talked to experts in the field to compile this helpful guide to staying engaged and in control when it comes to gaming in the home.

Rounding out the top five gaming stories was our review of The Conduit. It may not break the FPS mold, but it does treat the Wii like a big-boy system. There's a lot to like in this strong, moldable title that features a too-fast single-player game but stronger than expected multiplayer offerings.

Battlefield Heroes offers the ability to pay for faster XP and ability points, but there is a fun, light-hearted game hidden in the rubble of the game's online experience—which barely works. Let's start getting this fixed, EA.

Backwards compatibility is a feature long-missed in the PS3 hardware, but a newly discovered patent hints that Sony wants to bring it back. Is this coming to the PS3 Slim? Doubtful, but stranger things have happened.

This week's gaming poll asked a simple question: have the new StarCraft 2 announcements put a stop to your plans to buy the game... or, should we say, games? How important is LAN play to you?